Outside my backdoor there's a birch tree whose upper branches shade my deck. Squirrels like the tree, and they're amusing enough, but it's always nice to see someone else come visiting, like this efficient little downy woodpecker. 
He seemed mostly unconcerned by my presence, but spent a lot of time tap-tap-tapping away on the opposite sides of the branches, just peeking around from time to time to see if I was still there.His head was moving so fast it was hard to get a decent photo, especially on zoom.
This tree is slated to get a good trim in a few weeks, when the dying maple out front comes down. Yes, I finally got an affordable estimate on that: $880. Ouch. No word yet on whether we'll be able to save the beehive inside.
Such a pretty bird. I love listening the the woodpeckers work, too. Well, except the one that pecked at our roof antenna every morning at 5am one spring. If you think it's loud on wood, you should hear it on metal.
ReplyDeleteBetts, the flickers here do that. Used to be one that would drum on the side of my old house. The dog would start barking thinking someone was knocking on the door!
ReplyDeleteThe also like to drum on roof vent covers. Quite effective.